Bay Area high schoolers walk out over gun violence, break through school gates in Concord

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Students from Mount Diablo High School break through a gate to leave campus during a walkout to protest gun violence on Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Concord, Calif (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)

Prospect High School students leave class Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Saratoga, Calif., taking part in a nation-wide walkout in memory of the 17 students slain last month in Parkland, Florida. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

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Students from Mount Diablo High School march across campus during a walkout to protest gun violence on Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Concord, Calif (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)

Evergreen Valley High School students walk out of school at 10am towards Evergreen Square to rally against gun violence at Evergreen Valley High School in San Jose, California, on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. The walkout is nspired by last monthâ€™s massacre in Parkland, Florida. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)

Alameda high students march down Central Avenue on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 in Alameda, Calif. Hundreds of Alameda High School students participate in the nationwide student walkout to protest gun violence. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Prospect High School students grab signs from a van as they leave class Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Saratoga, Calif., to take part in a nation-wide walkout in memory of the 17 students slain last month in Parkland, Florida. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Anusha Kondiparti, 17, uses a megaphone to exhort her fellow Evergreen Valley High School students as they march off campus during an anti-gun violence march and rally on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. The students were participating in a nationwide anti-gun violence protest rally sparked by the mass shooting that occurred four weeks ago at a Parkland, Florida high school, in which 17 people, including 14 students, lost their lives. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group.

Students from Mount Diablo High School break through a gate to leave campus during a walkout to protest gun violence on Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Concord, Calif (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)

A Prospect High School student carries a sign in memory of the 17 students slain last month in Parkland, Florida, during a walk-out Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Saratoga, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Prospect High School students hold signs Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Saratoga, Calif., taking part in a nation-wide walkout in memory of the 17 students slain last month in Parkland, Florida. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Students at Alameda High School walked out of class at 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 14, 2018 to participate in a nationwide protest against gun violence and the thus-far inaction by politicians to create effective gun control measures. The protest was in response to the mass shooting on the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School four weeks ago in Parkland, Florida, in which a gunman shot and killed 17 people, 14 of whom were students. (Laura A. Oda/ Bay Area News Group)

A Concord Police officer and staff members of Mount Diablo High School lock a gate to on campus before a walkout to protest gun violence on Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Concord, Calif (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)

Prospect High School students hold signs Wednesday, March 14, 2018, at the intersection of Lawrence Expressway and Prospect Road in Saratoga, Calif., taking part in a nation-wide walkout in memory of the 17 students slain last month in Parkland, Florida. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Prospect High School students hold signs Wednesday, March 14, 2018, at the intersection of Lawrence Expressway and Prospect Road in Saratoga, Calif., taking part in a nation-wide walkout in memory of the 17 students slain last month in Parkland, Florida. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Students from Mount Diablo High School gather at a gate before leaving campus during a walkout to protest gun violence on Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Concord, Calif (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)

Evergreen Valley High School student Sophie Noll/Azzi, 14, participates in an anti-gun violence protest with her fellow students on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 in San Jose, Calif. The Evergreen Valley students participated in a national day of protest in response to the mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school four weeks ago that left 14 students dead. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)

Prospect High School students leave class Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Saratoga, Calif., taking part in a nation-wide walkout in memory of the 17 students slain last month in Parkland, Florida. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

A Concord Police officer monitors a gate at Mount Diablo High School on Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Concord, Calif (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)

Heritage High School students walk out of class as part of the nationwide protest of gun violence in Brentwood, Calif., on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Aaron Davis/Bay Area News Group)

Heritage High School sophomore Stephanie Redding, 16, writes 17 things she will do to create a positive impact on a central chalkboard on the campus green. (Aaron Davis/Bay Area News Group)

Alameda High students gather in the quad for the 17 minutes on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 in Alameda, Calif. Hundreds of Alameda High School students participate in the nationwide student walkout to protest gun violence. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Students at San Rafael High School listen to a speaker after joining other students across the country as they stage 17-minute walkout to protest gun violence and pay tribute to the 17 people killed in Parkland in San Rafael, Calif. on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. National walk outs are happening exactly one month after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. (Sherry LaVars/Special to the Marin Independent Journal)

Novato High students, from left, Jack Andzrooni, Chloe Winnett, and Maya Treppa, each hold the name of a Parkland shooting victim during the school's National School Walkout event in Novato, Calif. on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

Portraits of each of the Parkland shooting victims are hung in the Novato High gym before the school's National School Walkout event in Novato, Calif. on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

Novato High students, from left, Jack Andzrooni, Chloe Winnett, and Maya Treppa, each hold the name of a Parkland shooting victim during the school's National School Walkout event in Novato, Calif. on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

Hundreds of Novato High students attend the school's National School Walkout event in Novato, Calif. on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

From left, Evergreen Valley High School junior Shivangi Singh, 17, senior Anusha Kondiparti, 17, and senior David Grant, 17, lead the rally against gun violence at Evergreen Square in San Jose, California, on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. The walkout is inspired by last month's massacre at a Parkland, Florida high school that killed 17 students and staff. Students across Bay Area and around the country walked out of their classes for 17 minutes Wednesday. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)

Evergreen Valley High School freshman Sophie Noll/Azizi, 14, participates in the school walk out to rally against gun violence at Evergreen Valley High School in San Jose, California, on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. The walkout is inspired by last month's massacre at a Parkland, Florida high school that killed 17 students and staff. Students across Bay Area and around the country walked out of their classes for 17 minutes Wednesday. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)

A student assembled for a 17 minute walkout holds her sign in the rain to protest gun violence in front of Devonshire Hall at Sir Francis Drake high school in San Anselmo, Calif. Wednesday March 14, 2018. (James Cacciatore/Special to the Marin Independent Journal)

Evergreen Valley High School students rally against gun violence at Evergreen Square after walking out of Evergreen Valley High School in San Jose, California, on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. The walkout is inspired by last month's massacre at a Parkland, Florida high school that killed 17 students and staff. Students across Bay Area and around the country walked out of their classes for 17 minutes Wednesday. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)

Evergreen Valley High School senior and walk out organizer Anusha Kondiparti, 17, center, leads the rally against gun violence at Evergreen Square in San Jose, California, on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. The walkout is inspired by last month's massacre at a Parkland, Florida high school that killed 17 students and staff. Students across Bay Area and around the country walked out of their classes for 17 minutes Wednesday. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)

Evergreen Valley High School students walk out of school towards Evergreen Square to rally against gun violence at Evergreen Valley High School in San Jose, California, on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. The walkout is inspired by last month's massacre at a Parkland, Florida high school that killed 17 students and staff. Students across Bay Area and around the country walked out of their classes for 17 minutes Wednesday. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)

Evergreen Valley High School sophomore Miranda Chin, participates in the school walk out to rally against gun violence at Evergreen Valley High School in San Jose, California, on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. The walkout is inspired by last month's massacre at a Parkland, Florida high school that killed 17 students and staff. Students across Bay Area and around the country walked out of their classes for 17 minutes Wednesday. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)

Evergreen Valley High School junior Shivangi Singh, 17, participates in the school walk out to rally against gun violence at Evergreen Valley High School in San Jose, California, on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. The walkout is inspired by last month's massacre at a Parkland, Florida high school that killed 17 students and staff. Students across Bay Area and around the country walked out of their classes for 17 minutes Wednesday. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)

Alameda High School students march down Central Avenue during the nationwide student walkout to protest gun violence in Alameda, Calif., on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Across the nation students are walking out of class at 10:00 am exactly one month since the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Students from Marin Primary and Middle School in Larkspur, Calif., participate in a memorial and protest on Wednesday, March 14, 2018, one month after the school shooting in Florida. (Photo provided by Marin Primary and Middle School)

Students assemble for a 17 minute walkout in the rain to protest gun violence in front of Devonshire Hall at Sir Francis Drake high school in San Anselmo, Calif. Wednesday March 14, 2018. (James Cacciatore/Special to the Marin Independent Journal)

Students assemble for a 17 minute walkout in the rain to protest gun violence in front of Devonshire Hall at Sir Francis Drake high school in San Anselmo, Calif. Wednesday March 14, 2018. (James Cacciatore/Special to the Marin Independent Journal)

Students assemble for a 17 minute walkout in the rain to protest gun violence in front of Devonshire Hall at Sir Francis Drake high school in San Anselmo, Calif. Wednesday March 14, 2018. (James Cacciatore/Special to the Marin Independent Journal)

Students walk past pairs of shoes set out before the 17 minute walkout to protest gun violence in front of Devonshire Hall at Sir Francis Drake high school in San Anselmo, Calif. Wednesday March 14, 2018. (James Cacciatore/Special to the Marin Independent Journal)

Students walk past pairs of shoes set out before the 17 minute walkout to protest gun violence in front of Devonshire Hall at Sir Francis Drake high school in San Anselmo, Calif. Wednesday March 14, 2018. (James Cacciatore/Special to the Marin Independent Journal)

Students listen to speakers during Novato High's National School Walkout event in Novato, Calif. on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

Students at San Rafael High School listen to a speaker talk about gun violence during a rally after joining other students across the country as they stage 17-minute walkout to protest gun violence and pay tribute to the 17 people killed in Parkland in San Rafael, Calif. on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. National walk outs are happening exactly one month after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. (Sherry LaVars/Special to the Marin Independent Journal)

during the nationwide student walkout to protest gun violence in Alameda, Calif., on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Across the nation students are walking out of class at 10:00 am exactly one month since the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

during the nationwide student walkout to protest gun violence in Alameda, Calif., on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Across the nation students are walking out of class at 10:00 am exactly one month since the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

during the nationwide student walkout to protest gun violence in Alameda, Calif., on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Across the nation students are walking out of class at 10:00 am exactly one month since the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Students from Alameda High School begin their march down Central Avenue during the nationwide student walkout to protest gun violence in Alameda, Calif., on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Across the nation students are walking out of class at 10:00 am exactly one month since the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Students at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, Calif., participate in a walkout on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Mark Prado - Marin Independent Journal)

Residents of the Redwoods senior-living community in Mill Valley, Calif., protest gun violence and stand in unity with Tamalpais High School students participating in a walkout on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Mark Prado - Marin Independent Journal)

Novato High students hug each other after the school's National School Walkout event in Novato, Calif. on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

San Rafael High School student Jemima Jagger-Wells, 17, bows her heard while listening to a speaker after joining other students across the country as they stage 17-minute walkout to protest gun violence and pay tribute to the 17 people killed in Parkland in San Rafael, Calif. on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. National walk outs are happening exactly one month after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. (Sherry LaVars/Special to the Marin Independent Journal)

Prospect High School students grab signs from a van as they leave class Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Saratoga, Calif., to take part in a nation-wide walkout in memory of the 17 students slain last month in Parkland, Florida. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

A Prospect High School student climbs a tree with his sign Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Saratoga, Calif., taking part in a nation-wide walkout in memory of the 17 students slain last month in Parkland, Florida. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Prospect High School students leave class Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Saratoga, Calif., taking part in a nation-wide walkout in memory of the 17 students slain last month in Parkland, Florida. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

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They chanted, carried signs, made a human peace sign in the rain and even broke through school gates in a sign of defiance, joining tens of thousands of other students who walked out of classes Wednesday throughout the Bay Area and across the nation to protest gun violence.

In one of the largest student demonstrations since the Vietnam War, the nationwide school walkout began in a wave across time zones at 10 a.m. and lasted 17 minutes — one for each of the victims of the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting exactly a month earlier.

“I think anybody has the chance to get gun laws changed,” said sophomore Stephanie Redding, 16, who was among some 200 Heritage High School students in Brentwood who walked out. Her district has seen several threats of violence in recent weeks, and students organized a “Walk Up” where they wrote reasons to positively change the school climate on a chalkboard.

While most of the Bay Area walkouts were peaceful, Concord’s Mt. Diablo High School became a flash point when students burst through a locked gate to march off campus, and a San Leandro school was briefly locked down after a threat.

Prospect High School students leave class Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Saratoga, Calif., taking part in a nation-wide walkout in memory of the 17 students slain last month in Parkland, Florida. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

At about 10 a.m., Mt. Diablo High made an announcement over the loudspeaker to honor the victims of gun violence. Principal Lorne Barbosa said he was not opposed to students participating in protests but that the student government had decided not to do a walkout. So the school locked its gates thinking parents wouldn’t want students leaving campus.

But students marched out of class anyway and broke through a back gate to continue down Grant Street, shouting “enough is enough.” The students walked back when administrators said they would make calls to parents, and school staff re-locked the broken gate.

Lila Souza, a sophomore at Mt. Diablo who had organized students to participate in the nationwide protest, said she did not expect the gates to be locked or that students would break through — nor did she want what was supposed to be a peaceful march to become destructive.

Women’s March Youth Empower, a politically liberal group of high school and college students from around the country, organized the march “to protest Congress’ inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods.”

The march highlights the growing student unrest over gun violence ever since authorities say Nikolas Cruz, 19, strode into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Feb. 14 and fatally shot 14 students, a teacher, a coach and the athletic director. Cruz, who had been expelled from the school and was arraigned on gun charges Wednesday, allegedly used a military-style semiautomatic rifle he purchased legally.

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The incident reignited the nation’s impassioned gun debate, much like earlier school shootings in Newtown, Conn., and Columbine, Colorado, and came amid heightened tensions at local schools. In addition to the San Leandro High School threat, a day earlier, Morgan Hill police arrested a teen suspected of writing a threatening message at Sobrato High School.

Students at Alameda High School walked out of class at 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 14, 2018 to participate in a nationwide protest against gun violence and the thus-far inaction by politicians to create effective gun control measures. The protest was in response to the mass shooting on the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School four weeks ago in Parkland, Florida, in which a gunman shot and killed 17 people, 14 of whom were students. (Laura A. Oda/ Bay Area News Group)

At Stoneman Douglas High on Wednesday, students walked out of class and onto the football field where many had fled for their lives weeks earlier. Principal Ty Thompson called for the “biggest group hug,” and the students obliged around the 50-yard line.

Students at Colorado’s Columbine High School left their classrooms for 30 seconds of silence — 17 for the dead in Parkland and 13 for the dead on their own campus in the 1999 massacre that seemed to signify the beginning of a generation of school attacks.

And in the nation’s capital, young protesters chanted outside the White House: “Hey hey, ho ho! The NRA has got to go!” Just before 10 a.m. they fell silent and sat with fists and signs held high.

In the Bay Area, students at Berkeley High School walked out in a downpour and stood in the shape of a peace sign on the football field. KPIX TV reported that at Foothill High School in Pleasanton, two students tried to stage a counter-protest during the campus walkout, while in San Jose, second grader Leonardo Aguilar was the only one to walk out of his classroom and joined the high-schoolers at Lincoln High.

Private schools also embraced the student walkout and message. St. Martin of Tours elementary school in San Jose held a prayer service in the gym Wednesday in solidarity with the national school walkout.

The walkout posed more of a challenge for public schools. Most accommodated students’ desire to express their concerns about gun violence and to remember those who died in Florida. But many tried to avoid interrupting class and to stop students from leaving campus, citing safety concerns and warning students could face penalties.

At Prospect High School in Saratoga, hundreds of students with signs like “No More Silence Stop the Gun Violence” poured out of their classrooms at 10 a.m. and gathered at the football field along Prospect Road as passing cars honked in support.

“Witnessing people our age ignite a spark back in Florida has led us to carry the torch here in California,” said junior Tasanee Reza, 16.

Hundreds of students spilled out of Evergreen Valley High School onto Quimby Road in East San Jose amid a steady drizzle, chanting “End gun violence, no more silence!”

Administrators monitored the walkout but didn’t interfere. Some students said teachers had threatened to give them no credit for missed assignments or Saturday school for an unexcused absence but that participating was worth it.

At Santa Teresa High School, principal Greg Louie sent a note to families saying that “if students leave campus, we will not restrain them, but they will receive a Saturday School referral for violating the closed campus policy.”

Anusha Kondiparti, 17, uses a megaphone to exhort her fellow Evergreen Valley High School students as they march off campus during an anti-gun violence march and rally on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. The students were participating in a nationwide anti-gun violence protest rally sparked by the mass shooting that occurred four weeks ago at a Parkland, Florida high school, in which 17 people, including 14 students, lost their lives. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group.

Chris Funk, superintendent of East Side Union High School District, encouraged school administrators to create safe places on campus for students to speak but said students need “to be clear on what they’re advocating for.”

“Organizations have their own agendas and they’re using kids as pawns,” Funk added. “I’m not saying it’s wrong, I’m just saying students need to understand what they’re walking out on.”

At John F. Kennedy High School in Fremont, students made mock tombstones noting various deadly school shootings and calling for amendments to the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees a right to bear arms.

In Florida last week, Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill raising the age to buy firearms from 18 to 21, banning “bump stocks” that boost the rate of fire for semiautomatic rifles and giving authorities greater power to seize guns from the mentally unfit. But the National Rifle Association sued to block the higher age limit for buying guns.

Gun-rights advocates note that school shootings remain rare and have urged more school security and restrictions for the mentally ill to obtain firearms. The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bill to fund more security at schools.

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“These kids should be fighting for real school security, not skipping class and throwing tantrums to promote gun control laws that hurt law-abiding people,” said Brandon Combs, president of the California-based Firearms Policy Coalition.

But critics say moves to bolster school security by arming teachers only add to the danger. On Tuesday, a teacher and reserve police officer at Seaside High School near Monterey accidentally fired a gun into the classroom ceiling.

After the Prospect walkout, students heading back to class left their handmade signs perched on the fence as passing cars honked horns in approval: “We’re Not Bulletproof” and “Enough is Enough.”

Staff writers Peter Hegarty, Patrick May and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

John Woolfolk is a reporter for the Bay Area News Group, based at The Mercury News. A native of New Orleans, he grew up near San Jose. He is a graduate of the UC Berkeley School of Journalism and has been a journalist since 1990, covering cities, counties, law enforcement, courts and other general news. He also has worked as an editor since 2013.

Julia Prodis Sulek has been a general assignment reporter for the Bay Area News Group, based in San Jose, her hometown, since the late 1990s. She has covered everything from plane crashes to presidential campaigns, murder trials to NBA Finals. In a video that went viral, she captured runners paying tribute to a World War II veteran. Her specialty is narrative storytelling.

Annie Sciacca is a reporter at Bay Area News Group, where she writes about business and economy topics that affect consumers throughout the region. She joined the company in 2016 after three years at the San Francisco Business Times, where she covered the food, retail, manufacturing and hotels industries throughout the Bay Area. She holds an undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and a master's degree in political science from San Francisco State University.

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